I'm actually not seeing this from my perspective only.
I'm a 1.0 player myself and a FF11 player before FFXIV.
I'm used to a game rewarding me and not giving me handouts. From your reply you seem to be underestimating casuals.
I consider myself a casual I play as much as I can when I can but I don't feel I should be limited to my gaming.
Getting esoterics for example is the "solo method" for a casual to gear up multiple jobs. Even if someone went i210 it wont affect much since there isnt really much to do in this game due to how everything is a bit too casual/easy mode.
You have mostly Thord Ex and Alex Savage that are the only two actual hard things in the game and all the "elite" got stripped of their hard work to actual acheive something and now its getting nerfed so everyone else can catch up.
I havent done alex savage or Thord ex I don't think I ever will just giving you a headups on that but I would like to point out I'm not a cry baby like many of these raiders from non legacy servers.
I know its there for me as an option if I want to learn it with others and understand the mechanics together with 7 others its a choice but unlike the rest of the crybabies the mechanics are scripted you learn the steps you will beat it. People wouldn't be able to do this with 7 people selling the 8th for a carry if it wasnt possible. So where do you draw the line on the difficulty?
The game content isnt destroyed by players at all. Its more on SE side on wich part of this community should get most of the attention and clearly if even your version of the casuals are also complaining over how they feel used on the zeta relics and this one and in overral content that usually shows that whatever I've been saying here has not been my perspective and my opinion only.
About your hunts if hunts are really that ruined as you say it can also be easily fixed by giving an S rank atleast a 1 minute or 2 minute invulnerable buff from spawn time so people can get there. Hunts are meant for all the idea I presented was more of a group activity prefered an LS/FC/own world content to make the game more personal outside of duty finder.
Since its all about fun and its almost reaching a stage where everyone deserves everything as the other person since they pay for a subscription there are ways and methods to please all.
I know I'm not seeing this from my perspective cause everyone will still play this game at their own pace regardless of whats presented on the table but again they just want the game to be rewarding and not get the feeling of "It doesnt matter if I do this right now its still going to get nerfed around the corner" This is the mentality presented at the moment you know this very well I know this too. What joy does that give?
I do understand that you can't do this for all content but some things can still feel rewarding and untouched but EVERYTHING and I do mean EVERYTHING gets nerfed in the game so no gear or content has any form of actual "value" of completing it atm.
People don't want to be limited and they also don't want to feel that their time invested in this game becomes useless with every attempt they try to acheive something.
That has nothing to do with a casual route its not fun for either side.
For a casual thats trying his/her best to catch up by gearing up due to little playtime will barely have a chance to even catch up before new currency and new gears are presented and its back to the hamsterwheel so for a casual perspective it will give them a feeling that they can never catch up for a "hardcore/elite player" or whatever you want to call it who will do their best to gear up all their jobs will feel that their time invested was wasted because everything they just geared up became useless and they got to barely enjoy their jobs.
This isnt really selfish and I'm not seeing this from one perspective read the the thread from start people are pretty much on the same page.
It just seems that many players are scared for a change to slightly horizontal or anything that would require to actually put effort in. I'm just sad that the new generation of MMORPG player are this lazy and want everything served on a silver plate.
Presenting content where you and your friends have to do dungeon x to obtain 3-4 items and your gatheres need to get item x from certain places and then the crafters need to make the pop item then you have to go with an alliance pop the boss where it becomes a duty so no one outside of party cant steal the mob or hate etc so if you fail all the items are down the drain too and you can only blame yourself and your team no one else. THIS HAS NOT BEEN PRESENTED YET and it could be an option and something to try out.
It gives old dungeons replay value even newer dungeons to come making items obtained here a bit harder than others even tokens etc. This could work IF Yoshi P and his team decides to actually make this rewarding and doesnt give you a feeling as a player that ok this will get nerfed too and is only a temporary content.
Items must be obtained from primals/diadem/old coil/dungeons/gathering/crafting/desynthesis in order to get the boss spawn items. You mean to truly tell me casuals cant handle this at level 60? To me that seems content that you can do together with friends FC/LS people wich makes the world maps more fun enjoyable unique. Right now the feeling of this game makes me feel like I'm just a shell on the worldmap waiting for my que to pop for me to able to do something. Also add that certain mobs can only be damaged with the relic weapon equipped? Making items have even more meaning.
This my friend is not even an elite opinion its more of someone who wants content thats rewarding fun enjoyable and something you can do with friends outside of DF by also giving ALL content a value aswell making the game rewarding.